Neuromatch is committed to creating a collaborative, open, and inclusive teaching and learning environment. All Neuromatch students, teaching assistants, affiliated faculty, organizers, volunteers, staff, and contributors are expected to adhere to this Code of Conduct.
Participants or affiliates of Neuromatch who are asked to stop any inappropriate behavior are expected to comply immediately. This applies to any Neuromatch events and platforms, either online or in-person. If a participant engages in behavior that violates this Code of Conduct, the organizers may warn the offender, ask them to leave the event or platform (without refund), or engage Neuromatch Diversity Committee or Conflict Resolution Office to investigate the Code of Conduct violation and impose appropriate sanctions, decided via majority vote of the relevant committee. If the complaint involves a member of the Diversity Committee or Conflict Resolution Office, that member must recuse themself from the discussion and vote.
We welcome and support people of all backgrounds and identities. This includes, but is not limited to members of any sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, social and economic class, educational level, color, immigration status, sex, age, size, family status, political belief, religion, and mental and physical ability.
We all depend on each other to produce the best work we can as an organization. Your decisions will affect students, teaching assistants, and colleagues around the world, and you should take those consequences into account when making decisions.
We won't all agree all the time, but disagreement is no excuse for disrespectful behavior. We will all experience frustration from time to time, but we cannot allow that frustration become personal attacks. An environment where people feel uncomfortable or threatened is not a productive or creative one.
Always conduct yourself professionally. Be kind to others. Do not insult or put down others. Harassment and exclusionary behavior aren't acceptable. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Threats of violence.
- Discriminatory jokes and language.
- Sharing sexually explicit or violent material via electronic devices or other means.
- Personal insults, especially those using racist or sexist terms.
- Unwelcome sexual attention.
- Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behavior.
In general, if someone asks you to stop something, then stop. When we disagree, try to understand why. Differences of opinion and disagreements are mostly unavoidable. What is important is that we resolve disagreements and differing views constructively.
We can find strength in diversity. Different people have different perspectives on issues, and that can be valuable for solving problems or generating new ideas. Being unable to understand why someone holds a viewpoint doesn’t mean that they’re wrong. Don’t forget that we all make mistakes, and blaming each other doesn’t get us anywhere. Instead, focus on resolving issues and learning from mistakes.
We come from across the world and all have unique cultural backgrounds and identities. We assume we always mean well, but also acknowledge that sometimes we can hurt each other even if we don’t mean to. When harm occurs, we apologize, make it right, and learn from the experience.
Neuromatch Academy is not a degree-granting institution, and so does not consider performance (e.g. survey scores or even survey/content quiz completion) in granting completion certificates. However, we expect you to respect basic academic integrity principles all the same.
We take academic integrity to mean adherence to the following values:
- Honesty
- Trust
- Fairness
- Respect
- Responsibility
- Courage
Whether you are a student or TA, be honest in your applications and in your potential reasons for missing tutorial or project time. Take responsibility for your mistakes and work to remedy them. Don’t take the course under someone else’s name or identity: your certificate is awarded to you if you finish the course under our attendance policies, not if someone else logs in pretending to be you. Even if our completion certificates aren’t part of a degree, they still mean something to all your classmates and TAs, as well as your current or future supervisor or employer. Work to build trust between you, your podmates, your TA, and the NMA organizers.
Neuromatch, Inc. reserves the right to update this Code of Conduct at any time and without notice.
We believe that conflict is inevitable, nuanced, and complex. We all show up in spaces shaped by our lived experiences. We hope through our conflict resolution process that we can hear the experiences of everyone involved and find a collaborative path forward. We are committed to creating a generative and welcoming education space.
: Minor. Likely resolvable via conversations & mediation between complainant and/or accused, with no formal action needed.
: Moderate. Potentially resolvable, but formal mediation or consequence is required.
: Egregious and unresolvable (e.g. documented abuse or harassment)
If a report is received about behavior that violates the Neuromatch CoC, the following steps will be taken. In all cases, the identity of the complainant shall be kept confidential whenever necessary.
The Conflict Resolution Team will investigate. Investigations are documented in written form either on Discord and/or Slack, and in a private Conflict Resolution folder.
The Conflict Resolution Team will categorize the complaint into one of the three categories above based on the outcome of the investigation.
If Level 1 or Level 2, the Conflict Resolution Team will attempt to resolve the issue by informing other members of the NM community on an as-needed basis.
- Level 1: Speak with all parties individually or together (complainant, others involved, and accused as relevant) and potentially set up a mediation session or other intervention between complainant and accused if appropriate. Follow up to check in on outcomes after closure of issue.
- Level 2: Speak with all parties individually (complainant, others involved, and accused as relevant) to hear both sides of the story and decide on solution acceptable to all parties to resolve the issue.
If a resolution cannot be achieved via Step 3, or if the investigation concludes that the violation is Level 3, the offender will be removed from the Neuromatch shared spaces via whichever of the following is necessary, in the following order.
- Remove from Google Drive
- Remove from Slack
- Inform at least one Slack admin about the ban
- Switch zoom account credentials/permalinks to remove access
- Remove from Discord
- “Ban” from server
- Remove from authorization email list
- Inform Discord helpdesk personnel about the ban so the person cannot rejoin and support tickets will be ignored
- Send official email from Conflict Resolution Team member informing them of the ban and reasons for it.
If it is found that a student has impersonated another student in order to gain access to the interactive track:
If the impersonation was done without the knowledge and consent of the Impersonatee, the Impersonator will be removed from NM and banned from future participation in NM for a period of time to be determined by the Conflict Resolution Team.
If the impersonation was done with the knowledge and consent of the Impersonatee, both the Impersonator and Impersonatee will be removed from NM and banned from future participation in NM for a period of time to be determined by the Conflict Resolution Team.